I've been buying custom boots from Paul Bond since the mid 1990s and I would rate them 4.9 out of 5. Only once was my order slightly off and that was with the length of the mule ears I ordered.
I have gone to their shop twice to be measured (because your feet don't stay the same throughout your lifetime; mine got wider) and their last man, Mike, does a great job with the measurements.
Several things I would suggest if you're going to have them make your boots are:
1. Go there to have them take the measurements and insist they do it twice. If you can't do that, have someone take the measurements for you following their instructions and using a tape measure (you'll never get the right measurements doing it yourself) and do this several times until the measurements match (2 out of 3 or 4 out of 5 times).
2. Specifically spell out in detail what you want, whether you've got something in mind, want exactly what they have in their catalog or for them to reproduce something from their instagram page. Spell it out for them and don't assume anything.
3. Be somewhat educated in what you want in a boot, overlay vs inlay, full length mule ears vs mule ears down to the floor, toe type, and the type of heel and heel cap you want. Their old catalogs show the #1 heel cap on the old timey tall underslung boots and to get that you'll have to ask to have a heel cap cut down to a #1 size.
They are expensive but not as expensive as Texas Traditions, M.L. Leddy, Graham Ebner, or Houston Boot company. They will take a while to produce, but not as long as the 3 year wait that Texas Traditions has. Their time for production, for me in the past few years, is about a year which is the same as M.L. Leddy. read more